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Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest position in the executive branch of the United States, after the President. The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is indirectly elected, together with the president, to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States through the Electoral College. The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would normally ascend to the presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. This had been established by statute, based on the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, until ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, which specifies the vice president as the successor to the president, and establishes the procedure for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. The vice president is also president of the United States Senate and in that capacity only votes when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the vice president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Thanks to a number of changes in the nomination and election processes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, there have been more vice presidents (48) than presidents (45) in OTL. While John Adams served two consecutive terms under George Washington (1789-1797), this pattern would not be re-established until the 20th century. Conversely, George Clinton and John C. Calhoun each served under two separate presidents, although neither completed their second term (Clinton died, Calhoun became the first VP to resign). Seven vice presidents have predeceased their respective presidents. Nine ascended to the presidency. Only two, Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, have been appointed under the Twenty-fifth Amendment. This article lists the known vice presidents found in the works of Harry Turtledove after the Point of Divergence. Many vice presidents who served before the POD of a given alternate history are mentioned in passing. Also stories set in OTL may reference past vice presidents, or even the sitting vice president. ''The Guns of the South Southern Victory "Vilcabamba" Following the initial Krolp invasion, the structure of the US Presidency was converted into that of a dynastic monarchy, with the President serving for life, and being succeeded by his eldest son. Harris Moffatt II was the first Presidential heir under this new system. When he became President, his son Harris Moffatt III succeeded. Moffatt III's son Harris Moffatt IV was being groomed to be President, at the time when the Krolp conquered and abolished what remained of the United States and Canada, and all of those countries' titles went extinct. List of dynastic Presidential heirs *Harris Moffatt II (first heir under the new succession law, succeeded to the US Presidency) *Harris Moffatt III (succeeded to the Presidency) *Harris Moffatt IV (tenure ended with complete abolition of Presidential system) Literary comment The establishment of the Presidential dynastic line isn't described, but the system is taken for granted by all characters in the story. Whatever title the heirs used is never revealed, but the office is the functional equivalent of Vice Presidency in that timeline. Worldwar Only two Vice Presidents were identified in Worldwar: * Henry Wallace served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1941 until his death in a bombing raid in 1944. * Harold Stassen served under President Earl Warren from 1961(?) until his ascension to the presidency in 1965. Other Vice Presidents In addition to his above roles, Hannibal Hamlin is Vice President at the start of "Must and Shall," and is elevated to the office of President in 1864 when Abraham Lincoln is killed at Fort Stevens. None of his successors in either office are identified. John C. Breckinridge is the incumbent lame-duck VP for part of "Lee at the Alamo," and is referenced obliquely. John Nance Garner appears in ''Joe Steele, both the novel and the short story, where he is elected to six terms as VP before ascending to the presidency in 1953. Garner is also implicitly the VP from the beginning of The War That Came Early until January 20, 1941 (as the POD should not have affected his 1936 reelection), and is anonymously referenced in one scene of the The Big Switch, where he presides over an emergency Senate session during the last days of his second term. It is unrevealed whether he continued on in Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term, or was replaced as in OTL. In addition to his role in Worldwar, above, Henry Wallace plays an important role in "News From the Front", publicly breaking with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the prosecution of World War II, and is probably on the verge of ascending to the presidency when Congress begins the process of impeaching Roosevelt at the end of the story. In addtion to his above appearances, Harry Truman also appears in The Man With the Iron Heart and The Hot War as President. Alben Barkley is the incumbent Vice President in The Hot War until he is killed by a bombing raid in May 1952. Richard Nixon is referenced in "Hindsight" as the incumbent Vice President. Lyndon Johnson is referenced in "A Massachusetts Yankee in King Arthur's Court" as the incumbent Vice President. Hubert Humphrey is referenced as the incumbent Vice President in "The Fillmore Shoggoth". George H. W. Bush is obliquely referenced in "Bedfellows" (which takes place when he's a former VP and former President) as someone whom the main characters are on their way to meet. In Supervolcano: All Fall Down, an unnamed Vice President makes a brief appearance. This person shares a few characteristics with Joe Biden, who held the office at the time of publication. Historical Vice Presidents in Non-Vice Presidential Roles John Adams, the first Vice President in OTL, is briefly referenced in ''The Two Georges'' as having had some importance in the North American Union's history, but it is not clear whether this entailed having any position similar to VP. Andrew Johnson appears in "Must and Shall" as the National Union Party nominee for Vice President. Whether he ever held the office is unrevealed. In The Guns of the South, Johnson runs for VP on the Radical Republican ticket in 1864, but loses. Theodore Roosevelt is a major character in Southern Victory, where he is elected President for two full terms of his own, rather than starting out as an "accidental President" as in OTL. It is unrevealed whether he was VP before he became President. Calvin Coolidge, a VP who became an "accidental President" in OTL, appears in Southern Victory: The Center Cannot Hold as a President-elect who dies before inauguration. He did not serve as VP in this timeline. Richard Nixon appears briefly in ''The Two Georges'' (as a used steam-car salesman), Colonization: Second Contact (as a Congressman), Southern Victory: The Grapple (as a soldier), and ''Joe Steele'' (as Assistant Attorney General), but it is never suggested that he became VP or President in any of those timelines. Hubert Humphrey appears in The Man With the Iron Heart as the Mayor of Minneapolis, and is referenced obliquely in The Victorious Opposition as a pharmacist; both timelines end before he has had a chance to seek higher office. Humphrey is also referenced directly in Colonization: Down to Earth as a candidate for President, but it is never suggested that he ever became VP in that timeline. Humphrey plays a background role in The Hot War: Fallout as a U.S. Senator, and is killed during the course of World War III in May 1952. See Also *President of the United States *Vice President of the Confederate States Category:Titles * * Category:United States Congress Category:United States Presidency Category:The Guns of the South Category:Southern Victory Category:Worldwar Category:Vilcabamba